All Local, All The Time
All Local, All The Time
Sorted by date Results 2949 - 2998 of 4144
Boulder Country Day School held its 30th anniversary celebration on April 17 at the Dairy Center for the Arts in Boulder. The event included performances by alumni musicians Foxman James, senior faculty member at the Boston School of Music Arts, and Henry Dickhoff, professional pianist currently touring with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, as well as performances by Travis and Christine LaBerge, owners of Parlando School of Musical Arts and the BCD Spotlight Singers. It was an elegant evening with...
Fans of contemporary fiction, take note. On Friday, April 26, best-selling author Peter Heller (“The Dog Stars”) will be appearing at Inkberry Books (7960 Niwot Road) in Niwot to discuss his newly published novel, “The River,” the story of a leisurely canoe trip that becomes a harrowing tale of wilderness survival. “It’s very exciting for us,” Inkberry owner Gene Hayworth said. “We try to be a place that encourages both new writers and invites more experienced writers to come into the book s...
Unity Longmont Spiritual Center (ULSC), an inclusive spiritual community which meets at The Meditation Place in Longmont, will be offering a spring concert featuring local musicians Clint Brown, David Coile, Tim Ostdiek, Shanna in a Dress, Teresa Storch, and Christina Hildebrandt, CMT. The concert will be a mix of funky folk, blues, rock and soul and is open to the community. Dava Money, spiritual leader of Unity Longmont Spiritual Center, says that the center is part of the world-wide movement...
Double-digit population growth and competing budget priorities have combined to put financial pressure on the Boulder Public Library, and now the Library Commission wants area voters to consider whether to fund a separate district that could potentially bring new services to Gunbarrel or Niwot. On April 12, Joni Teter, former chair of the Library Commission, and City of Boulder’s Library and Arts Director David Farnan held an informational meeting with representatives from the Niwot Community As...
On April 16, Governor Jared Polis signed SB-181, also known as “Protect Public Welfare Oil and Gas Operations,” into law. The bill, which had originally proposed significant changes to Colorado’s long-standing oil and gas regulatory system, changed shape as it passed through both the state House and Senate and weathered the amendments that allowed it to land on the Governor’s desk. While neither the proponents nor the opponents of the bill are entirely satisfied with its final form, its existence, according to Anna Lee Foster, Communi...
Snow and cold seemed a distant memory as hundreds of school aged children gathered at Niwot High on Saturday, April 20 for the 40th annual Niwot Easter Egg Hunt, hosted by Pat Murphy. On hand for the celebration were entertainers Sami the Clown and Eddie Spaghetti, and the Mountain View Fire Protection District stopped by with their truck. The Easter Bunny also brought along a few of his furry farmyard friends as part of a petting zoo....
Coffee, booze, and marijuana - all legal substances that make you feel a little body-mind “something something.” Now you can add Kava to that list. Imported from such exotic South Pacific Islands as Fiji, Vanuatu, and Solomon, Kava has become Boulder-bound going straight to The Root Kava Co., the first bar of its kind in the county. Opened in October 2018, The Root is owned by four partners; Winn Kirkpatrick, John Callahan, Pat Irvine and, the newest partner, Keller Heurich, hailing from Niwot....
Like a lot of kids, Dr. Joe Sertich had a thing for dinosaurs. But his childhood fascination didn’t subside and the Colorado native turned his inquisitiveness into a dino-lover’s dream career as a Curator of Dinosaurs. Now his life is filled with paleontological learning, researching, and the uncovering of bones for the same institute that fed his curiosity as a child, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS). Thanks to the suggestion of Niwot volunteers who clean fossils at the museum’s l...
When the tragic loss of a child happens, immediate sympathy focuses on the parents who experienced that loss. But the siblings of that child suffer more than the profound loss of their brother or sister--they might also lose their parents’ attention and focus to their parents’ grieving process. It is why Gunbarrel residents Kjerstin and Shaun Davies created Charlie’s Guys, a 501(c)3 non-profit that works diligently to remind bereaved siblings that they are loved and not forgotten. In August 2017...
Sitting around a campfire with a high-quality, cold craft beer can in one hand can be considered one of the great simple pleasures of living in Colorado. But not everybody enjoys beer, and glass bottled cocktail ingredients don’t really work on a backpacking trip. That’s where Slalom Fox jumps in. Crafted and canned in Longmont using fresh juices and premium liquors, this small company wants to fill a niche that has been left empty by overly sweet, malt-liquor based canned cocktails that are...
Dawson School teaches language and world cultures to students K-12; by middle school, students can choose between studying Spanish, French and Mandarin, and by upper school, they can choose to apply for Dawson's immersion/exchange program. Dawson has had long-standing partnerships with schools in Sevilla, Spain, Tours, France, and Chongqing, China, sending Dawson students to live with host families and attend schools there, and in turn, inviting those students to do the same at Dawson. Earlier t...
According to its 2017 original schedule, 71st Street in Gunbarrel was due for complete reconstruction beginning in spring 2019. Instead, the project has been rescheduled to start in early winter 2020. In terms of the total project, it still included: - Full reconstruction of 71st Street from Lookout Road to Highway 52 - Widening the road to include paved shoulders - Improved pedestrian crossing for the LoBo Trail - New mixed-use path on the west side of the road from Lookout Road to the Gunbarre...
When local realtor Pat Murphy started hosting the annual Niwot Easter Egg Hunt, she wanted to give something back to the community that had supported her growing business in its formative years. Now, after four decades of watching both Niwot and the event flourish, she also feels grateful for the opportunity to create cherished memories for multiple generations of area families. “I am blessed that I’ve be able to work in this town all this time, and as a thank you for everybody’s business and t...
At the March 12 meeting regarding the building moratorium in downtown Niwot, Boulder County Commissioners were clear that alley access by all parties between the residential area on 3rd Avenue and the commercial area on 2nd Avenue was essential. One of their directives was for land use staff to develop a solution for alley use. Unfortunately for commercial property owners, the first meeting addressing a solution on the matter didn’t satisfy them. The upshot of the April 3 alley meeting with B...
A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Niwot High The Centennial State Ballet (CSB) will be presenting A Midsummer Night’s Dream as its final performance in the season on April 27 and 28 at Niwot High School auditorium. The ballet, originally choreographed by George Balanchine to Felix Mendelssohn's music, originates from Shakespeare's play of the same name, wherein the audience follows the complex love story in the world of elves and fairies culminating in a wedding celebration. Featuring the impish Puc...
Warmer temperatures and increased sightings of yellow-vested flaggers in the area can mean only one thing— the 2019 road construction season is officially underway. This year, Boulder County Transportation is gearing up for a busy one in and around Niwot, so drivers may want to plan ahead. 95th Street The longest project of the summer—the rebuilding of 95th Street between Lookout and Plateau Roads—is set to launch on Wednesday, May 1, with a projected completion date in October. During that...
How do you know it’s spring in Colorado? The days have become longer, flower buds are opening and snow is on the ground. After we experience those first few days over 70 degrees, a tense expectation can linger in the air. “OK, when is it going to snow?” It turns out the “bomb cyclone” wasn’t too bad this time. Maybe we can all breathe a sigh of relief? For many of us the slow greening of the land and the awakening of dormant plants in the spring beckons us to get outside. It also happens to...
Another subdivision heard from. Thank you Gary Northup of Gunbarrel Estates for the following submission. “I see the same pothole on Mt Sherman filled year after year. There’s a low spot in the road there so it is always filled with water or snow after storms. Just down the street I see a large rectangular patch that was probably filled due to sewer problems. It has lasted for years. “Why not fix vs (sic) repair the low spot so pothole crews don’t need to come out every year. Isn’t that chea...
Each year, hundreds of youngsters in Boulder County enter the child welfare system. It’s a complex and fraught system, but Voices for Children (VFC), a nonprofit organization based in Gunbarrel, helps children and their families find a path out. Niwot-based Debra Reed Fowler Real Estate (DRF) has been an active supporter of VFC’s Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program for three years. In March, her team donated $1,000 to help the organization continue to advocate on behalf of neg...
You’re locked in a room, and using only your wits and the wits of your companions, you’ve got to solve riddles, puzzles and clues in 60 minutes to escape. Welcome to the latest craze in fun—the escape room. A physical adventure game that can be set in one room or a series of rooms, escape rooms involve a series of theme-related puzzles and clues that participants must solve in an allotted amount of time in order to win. The locations are typically fictional settings such as dungeons, prison cells or insane asylums. For anyone that likes puzzl...
From providing the quickest driving route, to identifying where measles outbreaks are likely to occur, software applications tracking data across geography have become elemental to our daily lives. Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Global Positioning Systems (like the GPS in smartphones,) and other data collecting/analyzing tools help to forecast floods, analyze accident hotspots, and even study soil patterns. Front Range Community College’s (FRCC) Geospatial Program Lead, Jennifer Muha said...
The month of April features the Pink Moon and the Lyrids meteor shower, but skywatchers need not always look up to enjoy the heavens, thanks to Jim Miller. Miller is an astrophotographer—a photographer of celestial and astronomical events and areas of the night sky—who lives in the mountains outside of Boulder. His lifelong fascination with the stars and the night sky is his inspiration for his work. His photos are the result of the long-exposure technique used in astrophotography, with exposure times varying from 10 to 30 hours. The pro...
Niwot Community Association board members are gearing up for the group’s busy seasons. Kicking off the spring is the annual membership drive, already underway. Emails have gone out to members urging them to join for the 2019-20 membership year, and postcards are coming to those still waiting to join. Membership chair Johnny Barrett reported that membership stood at 248 households. In addition, the meeting will feature updates on membership as of April 3, and more members are expected to join a...
The Niwot LID advisory board got a preview of the warm-weather months ahead at their monthly meeting on Tuesday, April 2. Treasurer Bruce Rabeler was first up with his budget report through the end of March 2019. To date, the LID has approved $38,401.11 in funding requests, or about 30 percent of its annual $132,854 budget. With nearly $30,000 in pending requests for April, total expenditures for the year are set to exceed 50 percent of the budget with eight months still to go in 2019. Rabeler...
A controversial development proposed for the corner of 2nd Avenue and Niwot Road has been taken off the table. The mixed use proposal put forth to the Boulder County land use department by Von’s Colorado Concepts (VCC) became mired in red tape last September when Boulder County began a six-month moratorium on new construction in the Niwot Rural Community District in order to revamp building codes. If the proposed project had been given the go ahead, the property owned by Dr. David Meisner at 376...
Reveling in five years of business in Niwot, Left Hand Animal Hospital will have an even bigger reason to celebrate this month. LHAH owners will be able to officially call Niwot home when they move into their very own building at 304 Franklin Street. “For us, the move is a great thing, because it means we get to be permanent residents of Niwot,” co-owner Dr. Nancy Bureau said.” And we get to move just around the corner from where we are.” The practice will take about a week to pack and move the...
This April marks the Left Hand Valley Courier’s 22nd anniversary. Like most things I’ve started, I’ve often wondered, if I had really known what I was getting myself into, would I have done it? This is the type of thing that pops into my head around 2 a.m., when sleep eludes me. We started the Courier to give recognition to those in the community who might otherwise be overlooked. At its core, the paper strives to keep our readers informed and to create a dialogue about events that can and have changed the shape of our area. From the propo...
Nearly 20 interested stakeholders came together at the Left Hand Grange on Wednesday, April 3 to continue the discussion with Boulder County officials about how upcoming changes to the NRCD land use code will impact the 600-foot long alley separating the rear properties of 2nd and 3rd Avenues east of Franklin Street in Niwot. A mix of residents and property owners participated in the sometimes-heated roundtable with land use director Dale Case and county transportation engineer Mike Thomas, who...
Gunbarrel has become a happening place. Breweries, restaurants, coffee bars and vibrant housing communities have turned this once sleepy bedroom community into a real, live neighborhood. And now EATS @ Gunbarrel is getting ready to roll out its second season on Sunday, May 12. EATS is a local event that features a collection of gourmet food trucks and local musicians and bands that gather every Sunday afternoon from 3:30 - 7:30 pm until Sunday, Sept. 8. The site for EATS @ Gunbarrel is located b...
APRIL 1—In what seems to be a huge reversal in previous policy and operating procedures, Extinction Oil & Gas is finally responding to the thousands of complaints received about the health and environmental effects of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. “Starting in late 2019,” said a spokesperson for the company, “for every mineral lease agreement signed, we will give two free bottles of Booste-brand oxygen to each participant, along with a coupon book for Jumba Juice. That’s healthy, right?” Booste Oxygen is a canned, compressed oxygen prod...
Renowned Colorado nature photographer John Fielder will be sharing work from his latest book, Colorado: Black on White, at the first annual Nature St. Vrain on Friday, April 12 in Longmont. Fielder, whose popular calendars and books showcase Colorado’s landscapes, will be giving a multimedia presentation featuring over 200 of his Colorado photographs, as well as sharing stories of life on the trail, photo tips and more. Nature St. Vrain, an environmental open house, was created to celebrate t...
Even though there is snow on the ground as I write, warmer weather is around the corner. While the longer days and climbing temperatures put a little more pep in almost everyone’s step, it is an especially exciting time for gardeners. It’s also crunch time. Time to clean up, keep starting those seeds indoors, water those dry lawns and mulch until the cows come home. First up is to check on those seedlings. Remember February’s gardening column, in which we planned out our planting and seedi...
What the what? That’s been the most uttered question in town these days. But it’s true - struggles to open new thriving establishments in Niwot have led to a newsworthy business about to break ground at 420 2nd Avenue in downtown Niwot. Current plans call for an enterprise named Niwot’s Delight, a recreational marijuana business combined with an artisanal bakery. Ground-breaking is scheduled to begin April 31, allowing the new industrial design building to be completed by mid-June. Thanks to ne...
Boulder County is rich in high quality, locally grown produce and farm-raised animals providing an abundance of nearby Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) choices that is really quite remarkable compared to others parts of the country. Each CSA offers their own format of sharing their bounty of pesticide-free veggie varieties or naturally raised meats. But what they all have in common is that they are just a short drive from your neighborhood, which results in a lower carbon footprint than...
Nevin Gilbert may still be a few weeks away from his high school graduation but the future engineer already has the resume of a seasoned professional. Between a demanding robotics internship and a collaboration with a CU professor, the Niwot High student’s precocious talent for math and computer science has created opportunities not afforded to most college students, let alone those still in secondary school. Later this month, Gilbert will get a chance to add another achievement to the g...
The Niwot Community Corner park was created in 2018 at the corner of Niwot Road and 79th Street. In the fall of 2018, Community Corner was enhanced with a sculpture garden with artwork chosen from various artists for display for up to a year. This is the first in a monthly series about the artwork and artists chosen for Community Corner at Sculpture Park. We begin with the Sculpture Park Committee’s winning sculpture “Feather” by artist Joshua Pass. This sculpture was awarded the committee’s sti...
APRIL 1—The prairie dogs of White Rocks have recently served notice of mandatory forced pooling to some Heatherwood residents, invoking the Colorado state statute that will allow them to burrow underneath homes adjacent to their current colony between White Rocks and Kincross Way. Residents along Kincross Way received notice of the prairie dog colony’s intent to begin burrowing underneath their homes within the next nine months, according to a heated and somewhat panicky thread on NextDoor Hea...
April 1 – In what the county commissioners feel was a bolt of inspiration from the now seven-month-old building moratorium imposed on Old Town Niwot, that august body is now considering something similar for all houses in the county. Commissioner D.B. Farmer said, “We looked at the effect of the moratorium on Niwot and how it promoted such constructive, genial communications between the different streets, neighbors, businesses and homeowners. It was all good. “The whole experience made us reali...
When he was just 24 years old, Justin Hirshfield was likely the youngest head chef in Boulder at his gig with Laudisio’s Ristorante. Hirshfield is familiar to those in Niwot because of his 12 years working at the Niwot Market where he could be spotted most days. But, about a year and a half ago he joined the team at 1914 House as their head chef, so now it’s the evening crowd that’s most likely to see him. You may never have crossed paths with Hirshfield when he didn’t have a hat on his head or...
Around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 27, subcontractors for an Xcel Energy project accidentally punctured a 12-inch diameter water pipe buried five feet underground, sending a geyser of water onto the adjacent sidewalk, parking area, and townhomes. Left Hand Water’s distribution group was notified immediately and arrived shortly after the pipe was broken. Just after 5 p.m., when residents tend to be returning home from work and school, the flow of traffic was narrowed down to the eastbound lane o...
Springtime brings out the sun, the flowers, and the artists in town. Now in its eighth year, the annual Why Not Niwot? Juried Art Show is guaranteed to draw a talented collection of painters and other artists, each basing their piece on what’s special about Niwot. More than 30 artists will display their entries beginning Friday, April 5 in conjunction with April’s First Friday Art Walk and continuing through Sunday, May 31. The event is sponsored by the Niwot Cultural Arts Association (NC...
Donating money is wonderful, but engaging with a cause by giving your time and energy is likely to have an even greater impact – to that cause, and to you. It’s completely guaranteed that by volunteering you’ll be making the world a better place, and besides the obvious gratification of bringing about positive change for others, you’ll reap the benefits of connecting with others, which is proven to ward off depression and lower your blood pressure, and will generally make life more satisfying. Y...
In November 2017, the Courier reported IBM's Gunbarrel facility would be building Boulder's largest field of photovoltaic panels. Initially projected to be completed by November 2018, the endeavor underwent a few changes and broke ground this month. The array was originally planned to occupy the corner of 63rd Street and Monarch Road, but is now located on the eastern side of the campus bordering Highway 119. Still planned to occupy nearly 55 acres, the panels will span from Highway 52 near the...
Writer and filmmaker Ethan Knightchilde presented his premier Ghost Towns of the American West lecture to a packed crowd at the Left Hand Valley Grange in April 2018. Even those standing in the back of the room that evening walked away feeling entertained and educated by Knightchilde's study on hundreds of western ghost towns. As a result of the debut Niwot Historical Society speaking engagement, this year Knightchilde is bringing an updated version of his presentation to an even larger...
Longmont-based Up-A-Creek Robotics is home to one of the top high school robotics teams in the country, thanks in large part to Niwot couple Terry and Cathy Olkin, recipients of this month's Left Hand Laurel. When the Olkins signed on for a stint as mentors to the Up-A-Creek Robotics team five years ago, they were just hoping to spend more time with sons Jake and Zach. Before long, however, the naturally competitive duo found themselves enjoying not just their extra time with the boys, but also...
The Longmont Community Foundation (LCF) will be celebrating 25 years of supporting charitable giving at its annual dinner on April 4. Since 1994, the foundation has overseen the distribution of $11 million to non-profits. This year alone the organization will allocate more than $1 million to the arts, education, animals, human services, health and environmental causes. There are only 1,900 community foundations world-wide, each honing in on a particular geographic area. LCF was originally under...
If the mark of a neighborhood's growth is measured in pizza joints, then Gunbarrel can puff out its chest and brag away. First Proto's Pizza, then Domino's Pizza, and now there is Fringe Pizza, which opened its doors about a month ago. A concept restaurant from owner Nate Rajotte, Fringe is definitely different. The tiny pizzeria, located right next to Rush Bowls on Spine Road, is working in less than 400 square feet, but that's enough to house the remarkable pizza oven that is just one of the...
Senate Bill 181 (SB181) is on track to become law, and the bill contains the most sweeping regulations of the Colorado oil and gas industry in decades, giving many who oppose oil and gas development, including fracking, cause for celebration. Other anti-fracking activists believe the bill is simply more of the same and doesn’t go far enough to reform decades-old legislation that impacts the health and safety of Coloradans. But what would SB181, as it stands now, mean to Boulder County r...
There is a stout little tree that dots the landscapes throughout our region. It’s native territory spans from Utah and Wyoming south through Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and even into parts of Texas. Vast expanses of land in the Southwest are covered by its sparse forests. It’s a hardy survivor. We often find it used in the landscape as a low screen tree, functioning to block the wind or create privacy in a backyard. This stout little evergreen has a vast history that’s been deeply inter...
Two of the founding members of The Lookout Alliance (TLA), Leesah Patt and Amanda Janusz, officially severed ties with the organization they founded and organized after the group and its mission were co-opted by LOGIC (League of Oil and Gas Impacted Coloradans), according to a press release from the two women. When oil and gas interests placed the Heatherwood mineral rights’ owners in their sights in November 2018, Janusz and Patt organized the community, recruited volunteers, and sponsored a town hall meeting attended by nearly 200 r...
